Professional Learning Programs

GCI professional development programs build practical skills in coaching and leadership – enhancing the quality of conversations in education communities, building teaching and learning capacity, and impacting student outcomes.

All programs can be run in-house for schools or groups. Selected programs are offered as Current Workshops

Take your Coaching to a Deeper Level...

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Growth Coaching International has been providing professional learning to education leaders for over 13 years. Over 8000 school
leaders, system leaders, teachers and even students have participated in various GCI professional learning programs in
the last 12 months alone, with over 800 leaders receiving individual coaching.

Our Values

The GCI team are committed to working collaboratively with clients, sharing practitioner-focused, impactful, research-informed
and practical coaching skills within a positive and empathetic environment for personal, professional and organisational
improvement.

Our Team

The GCI team of coaches and workshop facilitators offer a unique blend of education, coaching and academic experience.
All are dedicated professionals committed to delivering practical, evidence-based programs, workshops and coaching
services to education communities.

Our Partners

GCI is an approved coaching program and coaching services provider to several professional development organisations throughout
Australia, New Zealand and internationally.

As well as our regular in-house and public professional learning workshops, Growth Coaching International is pleased to host,
sponsor and present at national and international events in the field of coaching in education.

Keynote Speakers

Our presenters are highly experienced coach trainers and facilitators. They offer a unique blend of education, coaching
and academic experience and do more than tell a good story – they will engage with, teach and inspire your audience.

Upcoming Events

GCI regularly hosts national and international thought-leaders in the field of coaching in education for special workshop
events. We also love to share the knowledge and experience of our team and clients.

Past Events

GCI proud to host major national conferences in the field of coaching in education. Where possible we are delighted to
share conference resources here.

Coaching Resource Library

At Growth Coaching we are always interested in developing our understanding of coaching in education. Our resource library
is dedicated to sharing some of the latest thinking in the fields of coaching, performance and positive psychology.

Hennessy Catholic College

Empowering our greatest resource

Hennessy Catholic College is a rural secondary college in south-western New South Wales. In 2011 the College set out on the journey to become a high performing
school with the specific aim to develop its greatest resource – its staff. To achieve this aim Hennessy utilised a coaching approach to empower staff
to take ownership of their goals, the options, the strategies and ultimately the outcomes of student achievement. The intervention has been enormously
successful with the benefits far exceeding just the performance of students. The development of key skills such as building trust, active listening
and providing constructive feedback has changed the culture at Hennessy.

Intervention

In 2012 the College Executive felt that the staff was ripe for coaching. They had been exposed to the extensive research of John Hattie (2012) and the
key factors that affect student performance. Our College Executive recognised that coaching was the vehicle that would transport our staff from untapped
teaching potential to dynamic and reflective practitioners willing to take risks in the classroom.

The three pillars of coaching that became the foundations for change in our school community: Trust, Listening and Feedback. The initial coaching training
equipped our leaders with the skills to unlock ideas inherent in our staff and to grow these ideas into reality. Key Learning Areas and Welfare teams
were each provided with the benefit of two and a half days of coach training to build their leadership and coaching skills.

The success of the coaching intervention resulted in an increased levels of ownership of the coaches and ‘coachees’ of the process of change. Coaching
empowered our staff, to establish goals, reflect on current practices, take risks and develop new strategies in supportive environments, evaluate the
success of new strategies and develop an action plan in the implementation of new strategies.

Specifics

The College received a grant under the Empowering Local Schools initiative which enabled us to engage an external training company to provide our executive
and middle management with intensive professional development. This proved to be the tipping point for the successful implementation of the program.
45% of the Hennessy staff have been trained in the GROWTH model and this has significantly improved the skills and confidence of our coaches. Initially
the College developed a strategic plan to engage stakeholders and to ensure the likely success of the program.

The Triads

Following the training, staff were strategically placed into triad groupings and were asked to meet on a fortnightly basis to develop and practice their
coaching skills. In these triads, each staff member was required to: develop a growth plan for a specific target; to be a coach; and to provide feedback
to the coach on ways to improve their coaching skills.

The Position

Perhaps the greatest influence in the success of coaching at Hennessy was the creation of the ‘Dean of Growth and Performance’ position. The role was to
coordinate and facilitate the implementation of coaching at the College. This ensured that the language of coaching was embedded into the culture of
the College.

Individual Meetings

The Dean of Growth and Performance met with each coach twice a term to develop professional growth plans. This was extended to Early Career Teachers and
offered to all staff who wished to utilise the opportunity.

Whole Staff Professional Learning Focus

The College Principal and Executive supported the program and designated Professional Learning Days and meetings to facilitate the development of coaching
amongst all staff. The Dean of Growth and Performance was the driver and led whole school professional learning in the area. Coaching became a focal
point of professional learning in the College to ensure that the common language and skills were utilised, developed and embedded.

Key Learning Area (KLA) / Department Focus

KLA and WELFARE teams used their common meeting times to develop school and team goals, to reflect on the achievements of the previous semester and to
empower team members to develop a range of strategies within their areas. The GROWTH model and the use of triads reinforced the requirement that goals
needed to be achieved, the follow-up sessions were instrumental in keeping the staff on task and focussed on their goals.

Instructional Coaching

The next phase of Coaching at the College was a move into instructional coaching and lesson observations. Based upon the work of Jim Knight (2007) a target
design survey was implemented and staff consulted on proposed targets to focus for the year. Staff consultation provided three targets based on the
standards.

Classroom and lesson observations began in earnest, with progression to the use of videos. During this phase we purchased an interactive software program,
that enabled us to set goals and annotate video footage of lessons between coach and coachee. This was a win-win for our school. Time is always of
the essence and whilst we wanted coaching and lesson observations to be the focus, we knew that we were asking a tremendous amount from our staff ’s
time to engage in this process. The IRIS program enables staff to video and annotate at convenient times. This process also enables us to collect and
collate evidence for the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) standards and fulfils some of the requirements for our New
Scheme Teachers in collecting evidence for their accreditation.

Professional Learning Plans

All staff at Hennessy have a Professional Learning Plan (PLP). This plan is developed in conjunction with their coach. The College has designated meeting
times for staff and a member of the Executive/Middle manager to develop their PLP. The PLP’s take into account the target goals the staff have voted
on (the AITSL standards as our target goals) and allows them to select two additional goals: a personal and professional goal to focus on.

Student Coaching

Coaching has been consolidated and has moved into the next phase with the introduction of student coaching. We have two models of coaching in place.
The first uses coaching techniques as the basis of our Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences. Students are asked to establish goals in relation to
what they would like to achieve at the start of each semester. The goal setting is in relation to what they wish to achieve, how they believe they
can best achieve their goals, predicting what obstacles may prevent this from occurring and what support they believe they will need to achieve
these targets. Students are then asked to look at each individual subjects that they have and set goals for what they hope to achieve in each area.
Students are then asked to develop a plan outlining how they believe they can best achieve this goal for this subject, for example, seek explicit
feedback from a teacher, establish a regular study revision program etc. This style of student coaching is done three times throughout the year.
Students have an opportunity to reflect on their previous goals and re-evaluate some of their targets and also some of their strategies to achieve
success.

The second phase that we have established is one-to-one student coaching of our Year 12 students. This is a much more personalised coaching session.
Trained staff are allocated to four or five students in the year and have individual meetings with these students to map out specific goals for
each student to achieve success in Year 12. The teacher meets the student on a regular basis to touch base with these students and to assist them
in working towards their goals using the GROWTH model.

Conclusion

The use of the GROWTH model and coaching skills has been embedded successfully to transform the culture at Hennessy Catholic College. Hennessy is now
heading towards being a high performing college: In the last three years:

The College student population has increased by 18%.

47% of staff are trained as coaches.

All staff have a Professional Learning Plan.

All staff contribute to the Professional Learning Community, by undertaking an Action Research Projects.

All staff now belong to a Professional Learning Team.

All Year 12 students have a personal coach.

78% HSC subjects above state average from 45%.

76% students receive first round University offers from 35% – including four students gaining places into medicine.

Hennessy was recognised as the best performing regional Catholic school in NSW in 2011.

The three pillars that have become the foundations for the transformation within the Hennessy professional learning community are: Trust, Active
Listening and Feedback. This has allowed Hennessy to empower its staff to be its greatest resource.